Alhambra City Council: Take Care of Taxpayer’s Money!

The Chamber’s newsletter “Around Alhambra” (File Photo – Staff).

OPINION

A Letter to Alhambra City Council regarding the Chamber of Commerce financial report.

By Melissa Michelson

Dear City Council,

The Alhambra Chamber of Commerce is asking for another $120,000, and wants a contract for two years, not one, this time. Nothing wrong with the Chamber of Commerce, I’m glad they’re around to help small businesses. But what’s wrong is there’s some important missing information for you to demonstrate to your voters that you are being fiscally responsible and doing your due diligence with our monies.

Let me give you an example from last year’s contract from May 23, 2022 Board Meeting:

No proper audit

They requested $10,000 a month to do various tasks. They told you how they would spend the money, but now, a year later, nowhere in the documents does it show how they have SPENT the money and if it indeed got spent for those things.

In this report for the first time, there are the weekly memos of what they have been doing these last 52 weeks, but those should be provided during the quarterly reports to you, not saved for the day they come back asking for their next handout.  They’ve certainly been busy, but did our money get spent the way they said it would? That’s nowhere to be seen.

Where’s the transparency?

By transparency I mean two things:

1. Knowing how much they have used in the past for the activities described in their scope of work, like how did they spend the $27k you gave them last year that was allocated for ombudsassistance and referral services, for updating their website and social media, for sending email blasts to promote businesses; for notary services, etc.
2. What other sources of income are they getting, how much? None of that information is on their website, and, to my knowledge, it’s never appeared in any report or presentation to the city; maybe they have other sources of income to cover it.  How can you make a sound judgment on the numbers and figures if you don’t have all the numbers and figures before you?

City Council represents Alhambra residents

You owe it to the thousands of residents in Alhambra that voted for you to represent us not a handful of business people, most of whom don’t live in Alhambra. If they were good business people, they would understand that asking the right questions, knowing what you’re buying and how they’re spending our money, is Fiscal Responsibility.  You do that for other contractors you hire. The same needs to happen with the Chamber, especially since they keep coming back for more.

Postpone the vote until you see the books

I’m urging you to postpone this vote until you see the books. Asking for accountability and transparency is something you elected officials do with any other entity you are subsidizing on behalf of the city. You five city councilmembers cannot do your due diligence at this time if you do not ask to see actual expense sheets.

~ Melissa Michelson